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Peter does not think.
Or rather, he thinks but just in that rushed thoughtless way where thoughts go so fast through the brain they’re barely formed.
It’s enough to make a decision.
If he’s being honest, the decision has already been made years ago, the day he decided to wear a mask.
My identity is not worth more than someone else’s life.
That’s exactly why, when Flash is standing in front of a guy that threatens his life, Peter jumps.
He hears screaming, shouts. He tunes them out.
He always thought his identity would be revealed by one of his own villains, a personal enemy who would track him down. But this is nothing as dramatic. It’s not even because of an enemy of his.
The bad guy of the day is after revenge against Flash Thompson.
Peter will learn this later, but the bad guy is actually trying to hit Flash Thompson’s father by killing his son.
But in that moment, Peter knows nothing of that. He doesn’t need to. He just sees a threat, a man trying to kill an innocent.
The decathlon team are the last at school, they’re training extra hard for their next competition. The night is setting, it’s getting chillier by the day. The last days of summer are long gone, but they don’t pay attention to the cold or the dark. They’re all chatting and laughing, they did pretty good today and they’re feeling invincible.
They’ve just left the school, every time they stay so late they have to take the back door so as not to trigger the alarms. The door leads to a dark empty alley, it doesn’t faze them anymore, they’re used to it. They will only stuck together for a few more minutes and everyone will be on their way home.
That’s what always happens anyway. Every Tuesday night for the past five weeks, just like clockwork: at 6:55pm, the decathlon team leaves Midtown High School together by the back door, they walk together up the alley until they part ways.
Tonight, the end of the alley is blocked: there’s a man standing. Now, that shouldn’t bother them, after all there are a lot of people in New York City.
But the stranger is looking straight at them, just illuminated enough by the street light to show the furious set of his eyes and mouth.
“Are, are his eyes glowing?” Ned stammers.
“Okay, guys, time to go back inside!” Peters orders and he puts himself in front of his friends. He won’t let anything happen to them.
“We can’t, the door locked itself up,” MJ says, her voice unwavering.
The man is approaching them and they can see him better: white, in his 40s and he is staring with glowing red eyes right at Flash Thompson.
“I only want Thompson,” he announces. His voice is raspy and deep, almost unnatural.
“Yeah right, not happening, dude!” MJ shouts.
One last crystal clear thought through Peter’s head until his mind shuts: he can kiss his secret identity goodbye.
The man (Inhuman maybe? Or the result of an experiment? Got bitten by a radioactive jellyfish?) throws a dumpster at Flash with shake of his head.
Peter jumps.
He catches the dumpster.
There’s a long – very long – silence, for a moment, the universe stops existing outside of this alley. It’s just them, and the realization that Peter Parker is not just an unassuming kid.
The silence is broken when Peter throws the dumpster at the ground, in a snap the world comes back alive and loud.
“What was that!” someone cries.
“Well,” the stranger says, “that was unexpected.” His eyes have dimmed a little, probably out of curiosity, but Peter doesn’t relax one bit.
“Come on,” he says the same way he would if he was wearing his costume. “What’s your problem with Flash anyway? He’s got a big mouth but he’s inoffensive.”
“I’m not here to talk, kid.”
It all goes very fast after that.
Peter was planning on going patrolling, and so he is wearing his suit underneath his clothes. Small mercies, he guesses.
Another dumpster is thrown his way, he manages to catch it too, while shielding his friends with his body and crying at them to get down. He shouts a web at the man’s face, blinding him, shouts a web at the roof to get momentum and kicks the man in the head.
Under a minute, it’s over.
The stranger lays on the ground, unconscious. In the distance, Peter can hear Queens bursting with life. It’s still the same as usual, just for a little while longer it’s the same as always.
“You have to go! Now!” It’s Ned, he looks panicked. Why is he panicked? Peter stopped the bad guy.
“I...”
“What happened here?”
Mr Harrington, who only now comes out the back door, looks wide-eyed at his students (shaken but alive), the dumpsters, and especially the tall unresponsive man on the ground.
Flash steps up and Peter’s mind clears, he breathes in: this is it. He’ll never have normal again.
“Spider-Man saved us from that guy,” Flash says. “You just missed him, sir, he left like thirty seconds ago.”
Wait, what?
“Yes!” Cindy gets up – her knees are scratched and her hair is a mess but she’s smiling. “It was epic! The man had red glowing eyes and he threw the dumpster with his mind!”
“And Spidey just – ” Charles makes a booming noise “right in and saved Flash!”
“We owe him our lives, sir,” MJ adds, and she throws a wink at Peter.
Peter feels shaky, like his legs can’t support him and he’d fall apart if Ned wasn’t holding him.
“Oh my,” Mr Harrington whispers. “I almost lost another one.”
“You should call 911 before he wakes up, sir,” MJ says.
“Oh, right.”
As soon as Mr Harrington is out of ear range, MJ turns to them and hushes them closer to her.
“Let’s make this real clear,” she is serious like never before, “we’re keeping to this story: Spider-Man came and left, and that’s it.”
“I didn’t see nothing else,” Seymour says and the others all whisper their agreement. Peter feels overwhelmed.
“Parker, man,” Flash says, “your secret is safe with me. I swear.”
He looks earnest. Peter believes him.
“Guys,” Peter says. “No one can know, please.”
“No one will. Not from us,” MJ swears.
They keep to their word, they say nothing to the police.
They are not even lying when they tell the cops Spider-Man saved them.
Tony Stark is at his place when he comes home, talking to Aunt May. They stop when they see him, and his aunt hurries to hug him.
“I’m so proud of you, Peter.”
“Mr Stark? What are you doing here?” Peter asks when May releases him.
“I have contacts at S.H.I.E.L.D., the situation’s being handled. No one will know your name, kiddo.”
“Thank you,” Peter can finally breathe out.
“What about your friends?”
“Don’t worry Aunt May, they promised they wouldn’t say anything, and I believe them.”
“I knew it,” MJ says the next day when she finds them at Ned’s locker.
“No, you didn’t,” Ned shoots back, always ready to come to his best friend’s defense.
“Right, because Peter is so subtle.”
“You couldn’t know it was that, it’s impossible and by the way – ”
Peter tunes out the banter. Everything is normal, something he never thought he would have again after last night. It still feels like a dream, he was so sure he would never be able to go back to high school or that Aunt May would have to leave everything behind and get in witness protection.
He thought he’d give his normal life up with his identity. He didn’t expect people to care, to protect his secret. He expected his world to crumble but he hasn’t felt as safe in years.
“Hey, Parker.”
Peter turns to face Flash, he looks unsure of himself but still decided.
“Oh, hm, hey?”
“Look, I wanted to thank you. I didn’t last night and I should have.”
“It’s fine, Flash, I’d do it for anybody.”
“I know. You already do. I also know you could have blown up your identity, you could have let me die.”
“No. I couldn’t.”
The bell rings.
“We’re going, Pete,” Ned says. “Text if you need anything.”
“Don’t worry I’ll be right behind you guys.”
The corridor is empty before they know it, and it’s even more awkward than before. The two never got along but they never actually hated each other. It was just a high school rivalry thing, but now it feels more mature. Something has changed.
Flash will always be the annoying loud classmate who likes to make fun of people to hide his insecurities, but he is also the first one who stepped up and lied to protect Peter’s identity.
“The guy with the glowing eyes, Sullivan that's his name, he was after my dad.” Flash says out of the blue. “He’s a judge you know – my dad. And a few years ago he released someone from prison, and that guy went on to kill Sullivan’s daughter. Sullivan wanted to make my dad knew his pain. That’s why he tried to kill me.”
Peter doesn’t know what to say, “That’s a lot.”
“Yeah.”
They stand there, in the empty corridor, unsure about where to go from there. Now that Flash knows about Peter’s secret and now that Peter has saved Flash’s life, their whole balance is off.
Where do they stand? Maybe they’ll pretend nothing ever happens and in a few days or weeks, it will all go back to normal. Flash will joke at Peter and Peter will crush Flash academically.
“I gotta go to class, see you around, Parker.”
“See you around, Flash.”
They don’t move.
“So hm… Still Spider-Man’s first fan, Flash?” Peter asks, he laughs a little as he says it, because he’d rather make a joke out of it. It’s just been too crazy, even for him.
“Yeah,” Flash answers seriously. “Now more than ever.”
It sounds like a truce.